Waste company Shanks cleared to acquire rival Van Gansewinkel
Waste management company Shanks has been cleared to acquire its rival Van Gansewinkel. After an extensive investigation, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has come to the conclusion that the acquisition will leave sufficient room for competition in the waste management industry. Both Shanks and Van Gansewinkel belong to the three largest waste management companies in the Netherlands. Van Gansewinkel is mostly active as waste collector, while Shanks is mostly active in waste treatment.
Investigation: sufficient competition
Waste treatment concerns the separation of different types of waste materials in such a way that new products can be made from them. Well-known examples are paper, glass, metals, and plastics. ACM has mainly investigated residual waste produced by businesses, glass recycling, hazardous waste, and the treatment of other types of special waste. For this investigation, ACM has spoken with almost 50 businesses. In the end, ACM has concluded that sufficient options remain for the collection of different types of waste. In addition, in the Netherlands, as well as in Belgium and Germany, there are enough competitors of Shanks and Van Gansewinkel that are able to provide waste-treatment services. For this reason, ACM does not see any anticompetitive problems resulting from the planned acquisition.
Mergers and acquisitions
ACM assesses in advance whether businesses that want to acquire or merge with other businesses will not gain too much market power. This is how ACM prevents mergers and acquisitions from producing large businesses that are able to abuse their dominant positions. In this way, ACM protects competition and consumers.
More information
The Belgian Competition Authority has also assessed the acquisition of Van Gansewinkel by Shanks. On 25 January 2017, it cleared this acquisition.
Shanks operates as a provider of waste-collecting services and waste-treatment services in the UK, Canada, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Van Gansewinkel operates as a provider of waste-collecting services and waste-treatment services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Portugal, and Hungary.